The Traitor Son Cycle

I’ve been trying my hand at writing some fiction of my own recently, which means that as I’ve been reading other peoples’ books, I’ve found myself frequently switching back and forth between the perspective of someone who is invested in the story itself, versus being a more analytical observer (thinking about the structure of the book, the author’s intentions, etc.).

All that is to say, while reading Miles Cameron’s “The Red Knight,” I spent most of my “analytical” brain power thinking constructive thoughts like “I am sooo jealous of this guy’s writing.” Then I’d lose myself in the story for a bit, and emerge a few hours later going “wow, he’s so much better at this than I am.” So I guess, thanks, Mr. Cameron?

Seriously, though, I was really taken with this book, and I’m absolutely elated that there are four more books in the series already published. The story itself occurs amidst sort of a parallel universe version of medieval Britain around the 1300’s. Very early in the book, it becomes clear that the author is very familiar with the intricacies of things like period-specific arms, armor, horses, etc. By the time I reached the “about the author” at the end of the book, I wasn’t at all surprised to find that Mr. Cameron (real name Christian Cameron) also writes historical fiction and has extensive experience with military re-enactment.

As discussed in this excellent episode of Writing Excuses, the danger in having done that much research is that you are tempted to use all that knowledge in your book, which can be overwhelming to readers (ultimately the book needs to be about characters, not saddles). With that said, while the book is certainly on the “historical fiction” end of the genre spectrum, I loved the detail. More importantly, I also loved the plot. It certainly isn’t easy reading, but if you enjoy the more sprawling, darker, epic fantasy plots like The Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of The Fallen, and The Broken Empire, then you’ll likely love this series. I do note, however, that some people in the Amazon reviews did end up holding the high level of detail against the author.

The story itself focuses on the titular Red Knight, and his quest to hold a keep against the encroaching magical forces of the Wild. Like all the best stories, the nuances of the plot go much deeper than that, and I have no doubt that by the time I’ve read the latter books of the series, my understanding of what happened in book one will be different still. It’s a dark tale (though not without humor), set against a background of war, magic and violence.

One downside I do want to mention: on the Kindle version of the book I read, there were quite a few typos. If you’re a stickler like me, that will no doubt break your immersion, which is a bummer. With that said, it certainly didn’t deter me from gobbling this one up, and I’ve already started inhaling book two.

Having just finished The Fell Sword, and begun The Dread Wyrm (book 3), I’m conflicted about how to review the series. In general, I thought The Fell Sword was a slight step down from The Red Knight. I’d argue Cameron moved a little too fast to open up his world (which was already brimming with details and characters), and the book suffered for it, particularly in the early-to-mid section. There’s an art to incorporating multiple POV’s into a book, and Cameron is quite good at it, but juggling a dozen POV’s is still a heavy lift for anyone. George RR Martin is probably the best in the business at it, but even he seems to have lost control of his narrative over time, so the struggle is real.

With that said, there is real payoff here for readers willing to stick with it through the rough patches, and it took me about 5 nanoseconds after finishing book 2 to pick up book 3. Like the initial book of the series, The Fell Sword is prototypical medieval, epic war fantasy. Cameron is clearly an expert in the details of arms, armor, and era-specific content, and if that level of detail occasionally slows the story down, it also adds a richness to his novels that I appreciate and envy.

I do need to mention that the Kindle version of this book, like book one, needs some additional editing. Sometimes character’s names are randomly spelled wrong, and there are other similar errors that threaten to pull the reader out of the story.

When it’s all said and done, I’m going to retain the “mandatory reading” rating for now, even though I’m sure the series would appeal to a smaller slice of fantasy fans than a more refined and accessible series (see: Stormlight Archive). I’m vacuuming this stuff up, and so I’d like to make sure other people have the opportunity to hear about it as well.

My apologies for the lack of substantive blog updates- please blame Miles Cameron!

I’m still chugging along with the Traitor Son Cycle, and book 3 was more of the same (which is a good thing!). I do note that I’m seeing fewer typos lately, so it could be a reflection of him having more editing help later in the series.

I won’t add much more at the moment, other than to say that my rating for the series is unchanged: Mandatory Reading!

That’s it, I’m done! It’s been a few months and about 3,000 pages, but I’ve wrapped up Miles Cameron’s epic, medieval fantasy series. It’s by no means a perfect series (is there one?), but it kept my interest throughout, and I’d welcome another journey into the land of the Red Knight. If you enjoy fantasy with a medieval, historical bent, then I highly recommend The Traitor Son Cycle.